TO: University of Delaware Faculty and Staff

April 2, 2008

TO: University of Delaware Faculty and Staff

FROM: Carolyn Thoroughgood, Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies

RE: National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy

In December 2007, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (PL 110-161). This legislation includes the Public Access Policy to ensure that published results of NIH-funded research are publicly available. Effective April 7, 2008, all manuscripts resulting from NIH funded research must be submitted to the PubMed Central digital archive within 12 months of publication. Further, beginning on May 25, 2008, citations of the author’s own publications resulting from NIH funding on progress reports, applications, and proposals must include the PubMed Central reference number. Researchers may access the PubMed Central submission system at http://www.nihms.nih.gov/.

It is important to recognize that in order to comply with this NIH mandate, authors must manage their copyright in submitting manuscripts for publication. The policies of publishers vary widely on allowing posting to PubMed Central; some do not permit posting at all, some have embargoes of 6 – 18 months, and others are charging fees ($2,000 and up for each paper accepted for publication) to allow open access within the 12-month period. Please read carefully the copyright agreement before signing and communicate with Research and Graduate Studies if an issue appears to exist.

Please include the University of Delaware cover letter for submissions of NIH funded work when submitting manuscripts to inform journals of the need for public access. Further, once the manuscript has been accepted, when signing the copyright transfer agreement, include an addendum with the NIH suggested language allowing PubMed Central submission within the proscribed 12 months after publication.

The Research and Graduate Studies office will be happy to assist members of the University community with questions concerning this new regulation. Please contact Elizabeth Peloso (), compliance manager, with your questions regarding this issue.